Label:
12XU
Release Date:
24/02/2003

There are lots of songs about cars on this album—-driving fast, driving away, looking across the city while driving at night. And it’s fitting, really. The overall sound of Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves is very fifties, souped-up, whitesidewall, rock n’ roll drive-in hamburger bar. The kind of music the kids cruise around the strip to with their windows down, in white t-shirts with a pack of cigarettes rolled into the sleeve. At the same time, the songs are about more than that—-lashing-out, confusion, betrayal, new hope, and pure cheeky charm all twisted around in good-timing music. This lady could kick your ass, but she’ll probably just stick her tongue out at you and give you the bitten thumb f* off ‘cause you’re not worth the effort.

The recording is nice and lo-fi, not over-produced, sounds like you’re there at a basement keg party with your friend’s band playing to a sweaty house. This is music to drink beer to, no fancy cocktails or white wine here. Sally Crewe has a healthy sense of humour and isn’t afraid to use it, but she’s too realistic to be ironic—-unlike some of the “The” bands, she doesn’t wear her rock and roll like a comedy Elvis wig, it really is a part of her. She has enough life experience to provide cryptic, witty lyrics and themes for her songs, and her music is for the grown-up kids not the wannabe, insecure sheep-herd teenagers. But mostly, this is a rock show for people who know what rock shows should be, that it’s more than loud guitars and somebody shouting down the microphone—-it’s about car-driving-fast music, singing out the window, and telling people walking down the street who you are .